Bed Cover Drain Tubes..... Right into the Bed.

My truck came from the dealership with an aftermarket bed cover of unknown manufacturer. It's a three panel hard cover with two panels that flip and fold revealing bed access but the third cover stays put. I've looked it over for some sort of ID information and there is none.



Kind of genius, it has some rails that it sits on bolted inside the bed. Those rails have a channel that is there for strength but also collects rainwater if it makes it past the sealing gasket. At one end of the channel is a cap, at the other (near the cab wall) is a drain tube on each side. Pretty Smart! But then they let the drain tubes loose in the bed so it just drains into the bed. Kinda defeats the whole purpose...



Is it possible that I can drill two more drain holes and route these straight through the bed floor so they drain under the vehicle? Feels like the bed walls and floor is just a fiber reinforced plastic that might drill super easy once a bit grabs hold. What am I missing? What should I be considering?

 

Yes but be careful of fuel filler neck and anything else under there.

 

DO NOT DRILL INTO THE GAS FILL HOSE. Way too many people have done that. The bed also has existing drains in the front of the bed.

 

The bed is easy to drill through. Probably best you find some photos but a lot of tonneau covers have drain tubes that go through the bed walls. I had one that had a drain tube in the center of the bed on the cab side and two drain holes on the sides on the tailgate end. If you look under your truck there is a lot of empty space behind the rear wheels.

 

It's nerve racking to drill into a new truck, even in the bed! Be damn sure you really need to and be damn careful if you determine you do!

 

Initially I considered running them through those holes, but then any water that gets in around the cover will have no escape route. Thanks to the both of you for calling out the fuel filler. Wasn't even thinking of that. Great catch. I'll be sure to measure 18 times and cut once (which is still usually twice for me).

 

I thought I wanted a folding hard cover until I tried out the Bakflip my bud has. Too heavy! Again, I went with a roll-up soft cover. If it leaks, it leaks. Seems pretty good so far. I didn't know about the drain tubes until I saw my buddy's as well. That certainly helped my decision. I know roll ups aren't for everyone but I like it. Excellent access when rolled up and light weight too. Not really secure but since every truck seems to have a tonneau or cap, I doubt someone would target me unless they knew I have valuables in there. Which generally I don't keep stuff stowed in there. For me, it's a transporter not a storage locker. Anyways, good luck and exercise extreme caution if you decide to drill the drain holes.

 

I've drilled through the bed many times to install D rings, and other mounts. No big deal, just make sure you know what is beyond and don't hit anything important.

 

Sounds similar to the Bakflip. Research install videos and try to identify some drilling points. If I remember later today I can take a picture of mine.

 

Do you have any photos? The description almost sounds like the OEM cover.

 

It probably is.

 

If it's the OEM cover, you don't need to drill any holes! Tonneau covers were never meant to be water proof covers, but if adjusted properly, they keep things pretty dry back there.

 

I just looked up covers on line and scanned through a few. It's this one...
https://www.extremeterrain.com/prov...file-hard-tri-fold-tonneau-cover-tt13474.html

Proven Ground Low Profile Hard Tri-Fold Tonneau Cover

 

This may help, but it’s a rough country….

https://youtu.be/NiRERP5rP_g

 

Perfect. Will probably put some holes in this weekend.